Two officers disciplined after 'racist and demeaning' treatment

Two Montreal police officers are being disciplined for abusing their authority.

The police ethics board found them guilty after a routine intervention almost four years ago ended with a black driver in hospital.

The ethics board said the officers were demeaning and racist in their treatment of the man, whose car was in a no-parking zone.

Police officers told Hando Wilkinson Andre to move his car from the corner of Mount Royal Ave. and St-Laurent Blvd. on March 30, 2012.

He moved his car, but not completely out of the no-parking zone. He was then arrested with force.
One of the reprimanded officers, Jean-Francois Lemay, pressed down on Andre's trachea to decrease his blood flow during the arrest.

Andre said he tasted blood and spat on the ground even though he was told not to. Andre asked for an ambulance and was treated that night. He was later required to undergo surgery for throat injuries.

Lemay asked Andre if he had past offences and when told he did not. The officer said 'Really, nothing? and he added, "These people are always reversing their names"

The other officer being punished, Alain Chauvette, commented that Andre needed psychiatric, not medical, care. The ethics board found these comments offensive.

Chauvette, now retired from the Montreal police, has been told he cannot work as a peace officer anywhere in the province for a month. Lemay has been suspended without pay for one day.